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A review by dorhastings
Back to Work: Why We Need Smart Government for a Strong Economy by Bill Clinton
4.0
I don't have too much to say about this book. I'm honestly shocked that my library had this book in audio format, especially since it was published so very recently. I picked it because a.) I had to listen to something in my car, b.) I do like and respect Bill Clinton, and 3.) he read his own book.
I got a few messages from this book. Granted, I kind of zoned out more often than not, but the two major themes I heard in this book have to do with the anti-government positionality (and, in a related way, idealism versus ideology) and our relationship with other countries in the world. I appreciate that he goes into a little history of the anti-government push. It's certainly something that's stuck with us since the beginning of the US, but it seems like it's been coming up a whole lot more recently in the last swarm of anti-government tea party members of Congress. This also troubles ideology: sticking to your guns on issues such as "taxes are bad" when we're in such poor financial straits. I feel like there's been a lot of talk of "let's not punish the people who are doing well just because other people are messing up; we shouldn't have to pay for your mistakes." If you want taxes, apparently you're a socialist. But if we're talking about the success of the country, then maybe taxes aren't such a bad thing.
He also talks about our relationship with other countries, but I have less to say about that. The only thing I'd say is that we can't ignore other countries or how much we would gain by buying more of our own products and exporting our products to other countries. We really do give very little money in our budget to other countries in terms of aid. Isolating ourselves ignores how the world works.
I appreciated this book quite a bit. If you don't want to hear Clinton make any references to his time in office, then you won't like this. I didn't mind it.
I got a few messages from this book. Granted, I kind of zoned out more often than not, but the two major themes I heard in this book have to do with the anti-government positionality (and, in a related way, idealism versus ideology) and our relationship with other countries in the world. I appreciate that he goes into a little history of the anti-government push. It's certainly something that's stuck with us since the beginning of the US, but it seems like it's been coming up a whole lot more recently in the last swarm of anti-government tea party members of Congress. This also troubles ideology: sticking to your guns on issues such as "taxes are bad" when we're in such poor financial straits. I feel like there's been a lot of talk of "let's not punish the people who are doing well just because other people are messing up; we shouldn't have to pay for your mistakes." If you want taxes, apparently you're a socialist. But if we're talking about the success of the country, then maybe taxes aren't such a bad thing.
He also talks about our relationship with other countries, but I have less to say about that. The only thing I'd say is that we can't ignore other countries or how much we would gain by buying more of our own products and exporting our products to other countries. We really do give very little money in our budget to other countries in terms of aid. Isolating ourselves ignores how the world works.
I appreciated this book quite a bit. If you don't want to hear Clinton make any references to his time in office, then you won't like this. I didn't mind it.